25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007

 

12. & 12A. ‘2wo Third3’ & ‘J-Pac’

 

12. ‘2wo Third3’

 

“I want to be alone, completely on my own”,

 

“Like a mad dog, I could bite”

 

‘4th Child’ vocalist Lee Thomas was first teamed up with the songwriter ‘Biff’ Standard in the early 1990s Tom Watkins managed electro-boyband called ‘2wo third3’ (Two Thirds). Unlike many ‘boybands’ of the time, such as ‘Take That’ or ‘OTT’, ‘2wo third3’ were very much more of a ‘high concept’ act with an image not to dissimilar to some of the concepts for the 1993 ‘Pet Shop Boys’ album called ‘Very’ (an act that Tom Watkins also managed for a time). Throw some 80s style ‘synth-pop’ into the mix and a great deal of promotional ‘Elastoplasts’ (stamped as always with a cartoon representation of Biff’s head) and then you had electro-pop heaven.

 

Whilst ‘Biff’ stayed anonymously in the background, Lee was joined in the group by Danny and Victor (who could be best described as ‘John Hendy times two’), backing dancers and ‘keyboardists’ who were always dressed in identical outfits.

 

The band, like all good ‘boybands’, were another manufactured group, though originally ‘2wo Third3’ would be more ‘open’ like ‘Bronski Beat’ and not surrounded in the usual innuendo and coyness that managers expect of their ‘squeaky clean’ pop acts. However, by the time ‘2wo Third3’ made it into the pages of ‘Live & Kicking Magazine’, this ‘openness’ was missing from the mix, with the band falling in line and being marketed to the same young audience as ‘East 17’ and ‘Take That’.

 

Actually, I think that this band’s ‘electro-pop’ was slightly before their time. I think that, as a concept, ‘2wo Third3’ may have worked better in the pop charts of 2007, rather than back in the mid 1990s, especially when acts like ‘Girls Aloud’ have a similar electro-pop style and ‘2wo Third3’ released some great ‘synth-pop’ records back in the day. If you don’t believe me and think that ‘2wo Third3’ are not worthy of respect, than all you need to do is get hold of the CD digipack single of ‘I Want The World’ and play track 4, which is an alternative version of ‘I Want To Be Alone ’. Nearly 7 minutes of greatness, a mix of electro melancholy that should have been edited down and released as the next single mix rather than the more syrupy pop edit that I think got to number 29. I say number 29 though I might be getting mixed up with Now 29, where you will find ‘I Want The World’ sitting snugly next to the iconic ‘Sparks’ and their song ‘When Do I Get To Sing My Way’. Also in addition to these records you might know of the debut ‘Hear Me Calling’, a record where the innuendo of ‘Bronski Beat’ meets the heavenly pop of ‘Depeche Mode’.

 

25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007

 

12A. J-Pac

 

“Nutter, everybody knows he’s a nutter”.

 

Another Tom Watkins’s pop act but this time a duo. If ‘East 17’ were supposed to be the rough version of a boyband like ‘NKOTB’ or ‘Take That’, then this duo were an even rougher duo with songs about people who were ’nuttahs’ and life on the rock n roll (dole – “u-be-forteeee”). Even though they were supposed to fit into the pop spectrum next to ‘East 17’ they now remind me more of a dry run for acts like ‘the Streets’, ‘Audio Bullys’ and ‘Fierce Girl’.

 

 

25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007

 

Lee from 2wo Third3 was actually one of my best mates at the time of the band, he's from the next village along to where I grew up. Watkins saw him dancing in Heaven nightclub, went over and asked could he sing to which Lee replied "Of course I can f*cking sing, I'm Welsh" :rolleyes: :D .... he was signed up on the spot.

 

They were a great band - geat image, too - anyone remember the Clockwork Orange bowler hat and eye make-up and the brilliant TOTP appearance. Probably not - but it's a shame as they deserved so much more success.

 

And the remixes of Hear Me Calling, especially the D.O.P. one - fantastic - even now. A lot of credit goes to the wonderful Helen Terry who provided her superb voice as backing vocals, too.

Lee from 2wo Third3 was actually one of my best mates at the time of the band, he's from the next village along to where I grew up. Watkins saw him dancing in Heaven nightclub, went over and asked could he sing to which Lee replied "Of course I can f*cking sing, I'm Welsh" :rolleyes: :D .... he was signed up on the spot.

 

They were a great band - geat image, too - anyone remember the Clockwork Orange bowler hat and eye make-up and the brilliant TOTP appearance. Probably not - but it's a shame as they deserved so much more success.

 

And the remixes of Hear Me Calling, especially the D.O.P. one - fantastic - even now. A lot of credit goes to the wonderful Helen Terry who provided her superb voice as backing vocals, too.

 

 

Yes it was a great concept. Did they ever get round to releasing their album anywhere in the world?

 

 

 

Re: Helen Terry.

 

Can you remember her solo singles after she did ‘Culture Club’?

 

the album never saw the light of day - which is a crying shame because I had a cassette copy (remember them? :lol: ) of it at the time and it really was different, interesting and a whole new take on the boring pop genre. I think Sony realised a gay boyband was never going to work and got cold feet.... :(

 

Lee's back in the biz, though, and has had quite a bit of underground success with his 4th Child project - they've done a few corking new tracks and their single Now I Found You was number one in the Music Week dance chart and plugged by the likes of Deep Dish, Tiesto and Tom Stephan. Check their MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/lee4thchild

 

Helen Terry - I had the album she released containing Love Lies Lost, which, I thought, was a pretty great pop album.... she's an incredible vocalist, she's wasted in the TV industry (she produces the Brit Award shows these days :rolleyes: )

This brilliant song should have been a huge Top 5 hit in my humble opinion:

 

2wo Third3 - I want the world (UK#20)

 

They kind of reminded me of a 1990s version of Blancmange.

fully agree - the other 2wo third3 singles, plus Lee's new 4th Child venture videos are all here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...p;search=Search

My god I remember these! They never really ignited though, aside from Britpop fever, this specific period of the 90s was relatively direction-less from a musical perspective, which was good in one sense because it left record labels with more imagination.

 

Persoanlly however, I thought Two Thirdz were just plain silly and I think their sexuiality had little to do with the fact that they didnt' have much commercial success.

I think it would have been a better success either as a solo project for Lee, or if they had acted even more deadpan (a la ‘Pet Shop Boys’) and moved not an inch from their synths. Some of the dancing spoiled the concept of the boys at the back.

 

Re: Neil Arthur / Blancmange

 

Does anyone else remember a single called ‘I Love, I Hate’ from the ‘Suitcase’ album (I think it was Chrysalis Records circa 1994)? That was another great lost electro-pop moment.